It is important to know the role played by different sections of the society in India’s freedom struggle. Student movements have contributed significantly to our freedom movement and there are many important personalities associated with the issue.

Key demand of the question.

The question wants us to write in detail about the role played by the student movements in the history of India’s freedom struggle. We have to be comprehensive in our approach covering all the contributions of these movements.

Directive word

Discuss- This is an all-encompassing directive which mandates us to write in detail about the key demand of the question and all important and relevant aspects, so as to bring out a complete picture of the issue in hand.

Structure of the answer

Introduction – Mention that In 1848 Dadabhai Naoroji founded ‘The student’s scientific and historical society, as a forum for discussion. This can be considered to be beginning of student movements in India.

Body-

Discuss the contribution of student movements in pre-independent India. E.g discuss their contribution in Swadeshi and Boycott movement, Non-cooperation movement; Civil disobedience movement; quit India movement etc. Discuss the role of student organizations like All India Students Federation; All Bengal Students association; All India Muslim Students Federation; Hindu Students Federation etc. Mention the names of few important student leaders.

Conclusion- Based on your discussion, form a fair and a balanced conclusion on the above issue.

General Studies – 2

Topic: Part of static series under the heading – “Parliamentary privileges and issues involved in them”

The question expects us to explain what parliamentary privileges and equality before law mean, how it might appear that they are antithesis to each other. Examine why Parliamentary privilege are important. Discuss what happens if the privileges are codified.

Directive word

Examine – When you are asked to examine, you have to probe deeper into the topic, get into details, and find out the causes or implications if any .

Structure of the answer

Explain what Parliamentary privileges and what forms do they take

Examine what equality before law entails – absence of privileges, no person above law and equal subjection of law to each and every person.

The article highlights the shortcomings in our fight against leprosy, which we often assume is a challenge that has been dealt with. The article deals with a major health crisis that impacts the most vulnerable section of our society and hence is important.

Key demand of the question

The question makes a sad comment on status quo that its shameful that we have not been able to deal with the leprosy challenge. We need to mention what the status quo is which reflects the poor state of affairs, the steps taken so far in dealing with leprosy, how they have managed to improve the situation somewhat, the new challenges that have arisen, and our view on tackling the leprosy problem.

Directive word

Critically analyze – When asked to analyze, you have to examine methodically the structure or nature of the topic by separating it into component parts and present them as a whole in a summary. When critically is suffixed, you have to point out the pros and cons along with a fair and balanced opinion.

Structure of the answer

Introduction – Discuss the status quo with respect to leprosy challenge and highlight the observation mentioned in the article regarding the growing incident of leprosy cases amongst the socially marginalized.

Body

Discuss the steps taken by the government such as the National Leprosy Eradication Programme, National Health Policy, multi drug therapy treatments etc

Discuss the results of such intervention. Highlight that incidents did go down.

Highlight that despite government’s focus, problems are many. Highlight the problems faced by leprosy patients, along with the deficiencies in government’s strategy.

Discuss what steps should be taken – special campaigns in disease prone areas and communities, counselling centres, increased focus etc

Conclusion – Mention a fair and balanced view on India’s strategy so far and emphasize that leprosy’s persistence reflects poorly on a country aspiring to become a world power.

Topic–Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests

India in recent years had banked on USA as a key ally in its foreign policy. However, the recent position of US on several issues have been having an impact on our bilateral relationship as well as other areas of our foreign policy. The article talks about this issue which is relevant while preparing IR section for Paper 2.

Key demand of the question

The question expects us to draw a linkage of the ways in which USA’s foreign policy under Trump has an impact on India, analyze what the impact is, and how can India respond to such emerging challenges.

Directive word

Analyze – When asked to analyze, you have to examine methodically the structure or nature of the topic by separating it into component parts and present them as a whole in a summary.

Structure of the answer

Introduction – Give example of the recent events such as trade wars, US opinion on EU, its flip flop on the Iran Nuclear deal etc which creates challenges for its allies including India.

Body

Give a brief history of India US relations in the past few years. Emphasize on the fact that post Cold War, India has gone the path of liberalization, globalization etc, the consensus over which is being challenged by US.

Discuss the various challenges under heads like economy, bilateral relations, multilateral relations, trade relations etc. Also discuss the values which are under threat. Under the head of economy, can discuss factors like the cost of rejecting Iranian oil under pressure of US sanctions. Under bilateral relations, we can discuss the impact USA’s policies are having on India US bilateral relations etc

Thereafter, discuss how is India responding to the emerging challenges – in certain areas like trade we are standing by our ethos of rules based trading order and in other cases such as Iran oil, we are toeing the line

Conclusion – Discuss what should the future policy be – we can mention consensus building on platforms like BRICS, IBSA etc

Topic– Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

Now with the monsoon session set to begin soon, the pending legislations become important news items. The Motor Vehicle (Amendment) Bill is one such legislation. The amendment related to pothole is quite important, particularly at this time of the year when monsoon aggravates the problem.

Key demand of the question

The question expects us to explain why existing laws are insufficient to tackle with the problem of potholes. We also need to point out that merely changing law would not be sufficient and would require alacrity and transparency on the part of the municipal authorities. We need to end with way forward.

Directive word

Discuss – This is an all-encompassing directive – you have to debate on paper by going through the details of the issues concerned by examining each one of them. You have to give reasons for both for and against arguments.

Structure of the answer

Introduction – Explain why the problem of potholes is important – discuss statistics related to accidents in India in general and potholes in particular.

Body

Discuss the problem in greater detail

Highlight the gaps in the legal architecture. Mention other reasons why potholes abound. Mention about the standards of Indian road Congress related to standardization of road construction and how they are not being implemented.

Discuss about the proposed amendments and how they can help address the issue

Discuss the focus required on transparency, accountability etc to deal with the challenge

Conclusion – Discuss what should be the way forward as per you.

Topic: Important International institutions, agencies and fora- their structure, mandate.

India recently became the vice-chair of Asia Pacific region for the sake of WCO. WCO is an important inter-governmental organization involved in promotion of international trade. It is important to know its structure, functioning as well as its role.

Key demand of the question.

The question wants us to simply write in detail about the structure of WCO, how it functions and what roel does it play in international trade.

Directive word

Discuss- This is an all-encompassing directive which mandates us to write at length about the key demand of the question so as to bring out a complete picture of the issue in hand.

Structure of the answer

Introduction – mention that WCO is an intergovernmental organization comprising of 182 customs administrations. Mention that India joined WCO in 1971 and recently assumed the vice chair of Asia Pacific Region for World Customs Organisation (WCO).

Body-

Discuss the structure of the organization and its functioning. E.g Secretary General; E.g It is headed by a Secretary General, who is elected by the WCO membership to a five-year term; annual council meetings; Mention various committees which assist WCO ints work such as the Harmonized System Committee, the Permanent Technical Committee, Policy Commission; Finance Committee etc.

Discuss briefly the objectives of WCO.e.g to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of member customs administrations and assisting them in revenue collection, national security, trade facilitation, community protection, and collection of trade statistics.

Discuss in points the role played by WCO in the arena of international trade. E.g it is the global centre of customs expertise and plays a leading role in the discussion, development, promotion and implementation of modern customs systems and procedures. It is responsive to the needs of its members and its strategic environment, and its instruments and best-practice approaches are recognized as the basis for sound customs administration throughout the world; mention its few instruments.

Conclusion- Sum up your discussion in a few lines.

General Studies – 4

Topic– Contributions of moral thinkers and philosophers from India and world.

David Hume occupies a unique position in intellectual thought and is regarded as one of the most. He challenged the traditional philosophy of religion and made many other contributions to philosophy.

Key demand of the question.

The question wants us to write in detail about the philosophy and thoughts of David Hume on religion.

Directive word

Discuss- This is an all-encompassing directive .Here we have to write in detail about the key demand of the question delving deep into the philosophy of David Hume.

Structure of the answer

Introduction – Write a few introductory lines about Hume. you can also write the introductory quote for Hume, mentioned in the article attached to the question.

Body-

Discuss the contribution of Hume to the philosophy of religion. E.g Hume’s opposition to the teleological argument for God’s existence, the argument from design, is generally regarded as the most intellectually significant attempt to rebut the argument prior to Darwinism; it is unreasonable to believe testimonies of alleged miraculous events, and he hints, accordingly, that we should reject religions that are founded on miracle testimonies; he offered one of the first purely secular moral theories, which grounded morality in the pleasing and useful consequences that result from our actions. He introduced the term “utility” into our moral vocabulary, and his theory is the immediate forerunner to the classic utilitarian views of Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill. He is famous for the position that we cannot derive ought from is, the view that statements of moral obligation cannot simply be deduced from statements of fact etc.

Conclusion– Form a fair and a balanced conclusion on the contribution of Hume to the philosophy of religion and mention a few other important works of David Hume.

NOTE:

We are giving hints for each question. Please use your creativity and originality to come up with answers that are unique to you. But do so without deviating from core demand of each question. Ultimately you should use your reason and judgement to write your own answer.